LITFEST: Amy-Jane Beer, The Flow: Rivers, Water, Wildness

Winner of the James Cropper 2023 Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing 

‘A true masterpiece’ The Times Literary Supplement

‘A tour de force’ Guy Shrubsole

‘Quietly courageous’ Patrick Barkham

‘Lyrical, wholehearted and wise’ Lee Schofield

‘A knockout. I Loved It’ Melissa Harrison

A visit to the rapid on the River Rawthey where she lost a cherished friend unexpectedly reignites Amy-Jane Beer’s love of rivers setting her on a journey of natural, cultural and emotional discovery. From West Country torrents to Levels and Fens, rocky Welsh canyons, the salmon highways of Scotland and the chalk rivers of the Yorkshire Wolds, Amy-Jane follows springs, streams and rivers to explore tributary themes of wildness and wonder, loss and healing, mythology and history, cyclicity and transformation.

Dr Amy-Jane Beer is a biologist turned naturalist and writer. She has worked for more than twenty years as a science writer and editor, contributing to more than forty books on natural history. She is currently a Country Diarist for The Guardian, a columnist for British Wildlife and a feature writer for BBC Wildlife magazine. She campaigns for the equality of access to nature and collaboration between farming and conservation sectors. She is honorary President of the national park society Friends of the Dales. 

AGE GUIDANCE: 12+